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Japanese firms to make counter bid for Axon
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 11 September 2008, 16:12 IST
Bangalore: After HCL Technologies, it is now the turn of two Japanese firms to make a counter bid for acquiring UK-based Axon Group. Infosys Technologies had made a $753 million bid to buy Axon Group last month. Sources now believe that a counter offer could come from Japanese IT giants Fujitsu Software or NTTSoft, reported The Economic Times.
The $18 billion Fujitsu was earlier actively in the fray to acquire Axon, NTT Soft was keen on SAP assets in Europe. Any counter bid to Infy's offer - announced on August 25 - could come as early as next week. But an official confirmation is still awaited.
The latest speculation comes after reports about homegrown HCL Technologies launching a rival offer started appearing in the media last two days. Sources said that HCL had sought the advice of Merrill Lynch in pursuing Axon, and might take a final call early next week, after putting in place a bridge financing facility.
The names of the two Japanese contenders are surfacing as some bankers believe the probability of a counter offer emerging from the Indian firms look rather remote. "Axon deal was peddled in the market for months, and most of them had a look at it. But the surprise in the Infy deal must have been the price, which was certainly not out of whack," said another source.
Fujitsu had reportedly turned away from deal-making after Axon management persisted with asking valuation of 700 pence but later saw Infosys striking a deal at 600p.
While NTT has no presence in India, Fujitsu has a small center here.
